Phones Nexus nerd picked up an iPhone 7 Plus

[Tig Bitties]

You all know my history of smartphones; long ago had several Blackberry's, then the iPhone 3G, and then my main stay on Android, with every Nexus phone, and a dozen or so other flagship Android phones in between. Current Android phone is the Nexus 6P. But I get bored easily, and with the latest iOS 10 Jailbreak out ( beta only ) and a stable full JB due soon, I thought best time to pick up a new 7 Plus now, and be prepared and ready for it. I am on T-Mobile ( JoD ) plan, meaning I get 3 upgrades to any phone I want a year.

Short story: Running a fresh new 7.1.1 ROM on my Nexus 6P, and I have to say that Nougat feels like an OS from 2017 ( the future ) and the iPhone 7 Plus running iOS 10.1.1 feels like something from 2009, very dated, very cumbersome and extremely frustrating and painful to use.

Comments / Questions;

- iPhone 7 Plus is a beautifully designed well crafted device. But it seems awfully heavy, weighs a heck of a lot more than it should IMO.

- Home button thing, I am very confused with it. I understand it no loner is a true press down button anymore ? Which is fine by me, by then why does Apple force it to behave like one still ? I'd rather it act like a touchpad, something like the HTC 10, or OnePlus 3 have, where you barely tap it and it works, but with the 7 Plus home button, you still need to sort of press it hard or firmly, you can't just lightly tap it like you would software keys on a Pixel or Nexus, or even a trackpad.

- How do I rearrange the icons around ? I don't want the Music app icons in the dock on the bottom, but every time I press to hold down, to get the icons to dance and have the little x's, it 3D Force Touches on me, not allowing me to x out an app or move them. How do I get the icons to rattle and allow me to move them where ever I want ?

- Weather widget, I set my home city, but the widget keeps showing me Santa Clara, how do I force it to keep my home town ? I don't have Location enabled, I always keep that off, only use GPS when actually running Navigation, but that shouldn't matter ? There has to be an option to force the city you choose ?

- Is there a way to setup a Google Calendar widget ? Or a better calendar widget than stock ?

- Animations and fluidity of iOS 10 feels slightly janky and a little clunky. Not smooth as hot butter and warp speed fast like my Nexus 7.1.1 ROM, which is super smooth and ZERO lag, but iOS 10 seems a little slow or just weird acting. If I am in app, then press the home button, it will hiccup for a second, then show the home page of icons fade in slowly.

- G Board keyboard is GREAT on this phone, that is super cool

- iMessage is also great, best texting app around

- No Back button, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD NO FREAKING BACK BUTTON !!! This is just brutal, just insanity using a phone with no back button, *** swipe or gestures, you MUST HAVE A BACK BUTTON ON A SMARTPHONE OS. Blackberry has a back button. Windows Phone has a back button, Android has a back button. ( rumors are that the iPhone 8 will mimic Windows Phone software key type setup ) The no Back Button on the iPhone is borderline a deal breaker for me. I can get used to the change of OS from Android, but no back key is truly a kick in the nuts, and something I can't get comfortable with.

 

[Stooby Mcdoobie]

- How do I rearrange the icons around ? I don't want the Music app icons in the dock on the bottom, but every time I press to hold down, to get the icons to dance and have the little x's, it 3D Force Touches on me, not allowing me to x out an app or move them. How do I get the icons to rattle and allow me to move them where ever I want ?

Took me a while to figure this out too but the key is a light touch. Don't press down; just rest your finger on any app icon and the rattle effect will start.

 

[msavic]

The lack of an actual back button is something that was quite hard to get accustomed too. It got to the point where I was tapping the bottom right corner of the phone as that is where the capacitive back button was on my S7 Edge.

After a month or so, I got used to sliding from the left edge as the back gesture and it has now become almost second nature although I still tap the bottom expecting the back button to appear as I swap between the 7 Plus and S6 occasionally.

There is also a 3D Touch gesture that you can activate by pressing on the very left edge of the screen which will activate the multitasking window and allow you to switch apps with ease.

Overall, the switch to the 7 Plus went better than expected but there is numerous questionable iOS design decisions that I can't wrap my head around.

I'm also still slightly annoyed that Google Photos is unable to back up my photos on its own even while charging since iOS restricts all background processes. I literally have to remember to open Google Photos every couple days in order to ensure my photos get backed up. The restriction of background processes is done to conserve battery life, if you're connected to a charger, there is no reason you shouldn't allow an app to conduct a back up. It works the way I would expect it to for iCloud but unfortunately I'm more invested in the Google ecosystem and don't plan to switch over.

 

[scott craft]

I liked the swipe gestures and 3D Touch on my iPhone. I still try to swipe to go back on my S7 sometimes. I didn't care for ios 10 that much. That along with price and the similarities between the 6S and 7 are the reasons I switched back to android.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Thanks for the replies I like to try something totally different once in awhile. See how different OS operates and compares to stock vanilla Android.

I'll be fair and at least give it a solid week of testing it and using it exclusively, see how it goes ?

 

[c0ppo]

Give it a bit more. You didn't use iOS in a long time, it takes time to develop a habit. I actually like swipe more then I like back button. But I do use iOS and Android together for the last 3 years or so

 

[vikingjunior]

Thing is with the iPhone back gesture the page has to reload it's not as fluid as a back button.

 

[widgeteer]

I've found the back button behavior inconsistent. Sometimes it backs you to a previous screen in an app, sometimes it backs you out of the app entirely.

 

[Tig Bitties]

I will say iOS and Android seems to be closer in operation than before. At the the end of the day, I use a a smartphone to Text, and watch YouTube, make Phone calls, E-mail, surf the web, and use it for Sports scores. Yeah I feel Android does it a faster, and has a cooler OS, but iOS 10 especially Jailbroken isn't far behind, and practically does all those same tasks very similar now. I will say this iPhone 7 Plus is so far giving me extremely stellar battery life, like way better than my Nexus 6P.

 

[widgeteer]

I will say iOS and Android seems to be closer in operation than before. At the the end of the day, I use a a smartphone to Text, and watch YouTube, make Phone calls, E-mail, surf the web, and use it for Sports scores. Yeah I feel Android does it a faster, and has a cooler OS, but iOS 10 especially Jailbroken isn't far behind, and practically does all those same tasks very similar now. I will say this iPhone 7 Plus is so far giving me extremely stellar battery life, like way better than my Nexus 6P.

I use my phone for pretty much the same stuff, we're of definite opposite opinions. Especially texting and surfing. Web browsing on an iPhone is a pleasure. Chrome is a disaster on Android.

 

[msavic]

I will say iOS and Android seems to be closer in operation than before. At the the end of the day, I use a a smartphone to Text, and watch YouTube, make Phone calls, E-mail, surf the web, and use it for Sports scores. Yeah I feel Android does it a faster, and has a cooler OS, but iOS 10 especially Jailbroken isn't far behind, and practically does all those same tasks very similar now. I will say this iPhone 7 Plus is so far giving me extremely stellar battery life, like way better than my Nexus 6P.

Granted, there is a few things that I used to do on my Android devices that I can't do on iPhones due to the restricted nature of iOS but in the grand scheme of things for general use, iOS and Android function pretty much identically.

I also noticed that the 7 Plus has been by far the longest lasting smartphone I have owned. I think the combination of minimal standby drain due to a highly optimized OS and fairly efficient components leads to such great battery life. Android manufacturers have the hardware efficiency down but the software is still inherently inefficient due to the nature of Android itself. I'm not sure how much more Android can be optimized before they need to do a full ground up re-write of the OS to further improve efficiency.

 

[Zaft]

You all know my history of smartphones; long ago had several Blackberry's, then the iPhone 3G, and then my main stay on Android, with every Nexus phone, and a dozen or so other flagship Android phones in between. Current Android phone is the Nexus 6P. But I get bored easily, and with the latest iOS 10 Jailbreak out ( beta only ) and a stable full JB due soon, I thought best time to pick up a new 7 Plus now, and be prepared and ready for it. I am on T-Mobile ( JoD ) plan, meaning I get 3 upgrades to any phone I want a year.

Short story: Running a fresh new 7.1.1 ROM on my Nexus 6P, and I have to say that Nougat feels like an OS from 2017 ( the future ) and the iPhone 7 Plus running iOS 10.1.1 feels like something from 2009, very dated, very cumbersome and extremely frustrating and painful to use.

Comments / Questions;

- iPhone 7 Plus is a beautifully designed well crafted device. But it seems awfully heavy, weighs a heck of a lot more than it should IMO.

- Home button thing, I am very confused with it. I understand it no loner is a true press down button anymore ? Which is fine by me, by then why does Apple force it to behave like one still ? I'd rather it act like a touchpad, something like the HTC 10, or OnePlus 3 have, where you barely tap it and it works, but with the 7 Plus home button, you still need to sort of press it hard or firmly, you can't just lightly tap it like you would software keys on a Pixel or Nexus, or even a trackpad.

- How do I rearrange the icons around ? I don't want the Music app icons in the dock on the bottom, but every time I press to hold down, to get the icons to dance and have the little x's, it 3D Force Touches on me, not allowing me to x out an app or move them. How do I get the icons to rattle and allow me to move them where ever I want ?

- Weather widget, I set my home city, but the widget keeps showing me Santa Clara, how do I force it to keep my home town ? I don't have Location enabled, I always keep that off, only use GPS when actually running Navigation, but that shouldn't matter ? There has to be an option to force the city you choose ?

- Is there a way to setup a Google Calendar widget ? Or a better calendar widget than stock ?

- Animations and fluidity of iOS 10 feels slightly janky and a little clunky. Not smooth as hot butter and warp speed fast like my Nexus 7.1.1 ROM, which is super smooth and ZERO lag, but iOS 10 seems a little slow or just weird acting. If I am in app, then press the home button, it will hiccup for a second, then show the home page of icons fade in slowly.

- G Board keyboard is GREAT on this phone, that is super cool

- iMessage is also great, best texting app around

- No Back button, HOLY MOTHER OF GOD NO FREAKING BACK BUTTON !!! This is just brutal, just insanity using a phone with no back button, *** swipe or gestures, you MUST HAVE A BACK BUTTON ON A SMARTPHONE OS. Blackberry has a back button. Windows Phone has a back button, Android has a back button. ( rumors are that the iPhone 8 will mimic Windows Phone software key type setup ) The no Back Button on the iPhone is borderline a deal breaker for me. I can get used to the change of OS from Android, but no back key is truly a kick in the nuts, and something I can't get comfortable with.

I believe there is an option in settings to adjust how hard to press the non button.

Overall you have been out of IOS for a WHILE, so it will seem odd.

 

[AppleRobert]

You jailbroke another iPhone in the past and returned it did you not? Or maybe you kept it and sold it but whichever will see how this one goes.

You rather the 7 Plus than having the large Google Pixel smartphone?

Just curious.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Is there a way to set different volume levels for the Phone ringer and Text notification sound ? I like my Phone to be quieter and my Texts to beep louder.
[doublepost=1482850582][/doublepost]

You jailbroke another iPhone in the past and returned it did you not?

I did but iOS 10 and Android 7.1 seem to be converging a little. With Widgets added to iOS 10 that is a big improvement.

And overall both phones do the main tasks very similarly; Texting. E-mail. Surf web. Watch YouTube. Make Phone calls. At the end of the day they not so radically different anymore.

Battery life has always been #1 to me and a smooth OS with no hiccups or lag #2. So far this 7 Plus has #1 down pat, and once I JB will have #2
[doublepost=1482850871][/doublepost]I would love the White Pixel XL 128GB but it's out of stock till February. And Best Buy sold out too. As well as local Verizon stores.

So I said F. it. Been thinking about a 7 Plus due to a Jailbreak coming soon. And I wanted to get a phone that was still on 10.1.1 if that'll help me JB so I did it now.

Anyways I still have my Nexus 6P and didn't feel the Pixel XL was a night and day major upgrade. I'd rather wait for the Pixel 2 with the much better SD835 chip and hopefully waterproof.

 

[mclld]

lol what happened to all the iphone/ios raging?

 

[Tig Bitties]

lol what happened to all the iphone/ios raging?

I still think the Pixel XL is the best smartphone of 2016, no question. But they are out of stock right now, until Febuary, for the one I wanted = White 128GB.

And I think a JB iPhone has always been pretty cool. And the stable Jailbreak for the 7 Plus running 10.1.1 will be released soon, so I said F. it, let's jump ship and try the competition.

Anyways, I feel the Pixel 2 with the amazing SD835 chip, and hopefully waterproof will be a sweet upgrade. I still kept my Nexus 6P running Android 7.1.1 so I am good on the stock Android stuff.

 

[Zaft]

I still think the Pixel XL is the best smartphone of 2016, no question. But they are out of stock right now, until Febuary, for the one I wanted = White 128GB.

And I think a JB iPhone has always been pretty cool. And the stable Jailbreak for the 7 Plus running 10.1.1 will be released soon, so I said F. it, let's jump ship and try the competition.

Anyways, I feel the Pixel 2 with the amazing SD835 chip, and hopefully waterproof will be a sweet upgrade. I still kept my Nexus 6P running Android 7.1.1 so I am good on the stock Android stuff.

Its always good to try out something new. You have made a pretty big leap 3G to 7 lol.

 

[Tig Bitties]

Question in regards to voicemail ? I had a missed call from a customer, they left me a voicemail, and I have a red dot notification on the Phone icon, but it's just a red dot, it doesn't have a (1) inside it.

But anyways, right now to check Voicemail on my 7 Plus, it's done the old school way, of dialing a phone number to access my VM, uh no thanks.

I'm on T-Mobile, and for my Nexus 6P I downloaded the 'T-Mobile Visual Voicemail' app, it worked perfectly and transcribed my voicemails, etc... But nothing like that in the App Store. How do I enable visual voicemail on my iPhone 7 Plus, and not have to sue that old way of dialing into my voicemail number ?

 

[Zaft]

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201436

Question in regards to voicemail ? I had a missed call from a customer, they left me a voicemail, and I have a red dot notification on the Phone icon, but it's just a red dot, it doesn't have a (1) inside it.

But anyways, right now to check Voicemail on my 7 Plus, it's done the old school way, of dialing a phone number to access my VM, uh no thanks.

I'm on T-Mobile, and for my Nexus 6P I downloaded the 'T-Mobile Visual Voicemail' app, it worked perfectly and transcribed my voicemails, etc... But nothing like that in the App Store. How do I enable visual voicemail on my iPhone 7 Plus, and not have to sue that old way of dialing into my voicemail number ?

Try this out.

 

[msavic]

Question in regards to voicemail ? I had a missed call from a customer, they left me a voicemail, and I have a red dot notification on the Phone icon, but it's just a red dot, it doesn't have a (1) inside it.

But anyways, right now to check Voicemail on my 7 Plus, it's done the old school way, of dialing a phone number to access my VM, uh no thanks.

I'm on T-Mobile, and for my Nexus 6P I downloaded the 'T-Mobile Visual Voicemail' app, it worked perfectly and transcribed my voicemails, etc... But nothing like that in the App Store. How do I enable visual voicemail on my iPhone 7 Plus, and not have to sue that old way of dialing into my voicemail number ?

You will need to call your carrier to properly setup your cellular account for iPhone Visual Voicemail. Once that is done, you can access voicemail through the phone app and will have a full UI to play/delete/save messages without having to use the primitive "Press 7 to delete" style.

 

[Zaft]

You will need to call your carrier to properly setup your cellular account for iPhone Visual Voicemail. Once that is done, you can access voicemail through the phone app and will have a full UI to play/delete/save messages without having to use the primitive "Press 7 to delete" style.

Voicemail transcribe is a neat new feature as well.

 

[widgeteer]

Question in regards to voicemail ? I had a missed call from a customer, they left me a voicemail, and I have a red dot notification on the Phone icon, but it's just a red dot, it doesn't have a (1) inside it.

But anyways, right now to check Voicemail on my 7 Plus, it's done the old school way, of dialing a phone number to access my VM, uh no thanks.

I'm on T-Mobile, and for my Nexus 6P I downloaded the 'T-Mobile Visual Voicemail' app, it worked perfectly and transcribed my voicemails, etc... But nothing like that in the App Store. How do I enable visual voicemail on my iPhone 7 Plus, and not have to sue that old way of dialing into my voicemail number ?

Your line isn't provisioned for iPhone visual voicemail. Call the carrier to activate, but be warned you cannot swap back and forth between iPhone visual voicemail and another. If you stick your sim into your Android phone and start using that visual voicemail, you'll have to call the carrier to provision iPhone visual voicemail again.

 

[Tig Bitties]

After having my Silver iPhone 7 Plus almost a week now, few positive things I can note, and this is compared to my Nexus 6P I've been using for 6+ months;

- Battery life is OUT-****ing-STANDING !!! Holy cow the stamina of this 7 Plus runs circles around my 6P, battery life is just way freaking better. And I Rooted and ROM'd my 6P and tweaked the hell out of it to get me like 5.5h to 6h Screen On time daily, and I'd still run low on battery by bedtime each day. With this 7 Plus, and same usage I going to bed and the phone still has 40% to 50% battery left, my Nexus 6P never could do that for me

- Display, color me impressed. I typically like AMOLED 2K screens better ( or so I thought ) But the 7 Plus screen is very crisp and seems super detailed on web pages and watching videos. The colors watching videos is very true to life and just looks surprisingly good. And the brightness outdoors is excellent compared to my 6P, which was pretty dim outside. I was expecting the lower res 7 Plus screen to be a major downgrade compared to the higher res AMOLED on the 6P, but it seems the opposite, the 7 Plus is very impressive on the Display.

 

[Zaft]

After having my Silver iPhone 7 Plus almost a week now, few positive things I can note, and this is compared to my Nexus 6P I've been using for 6+ months;

- Battery life is OUT-****ing-STANDING !!! Holy cow the stamina of this 7 Plus runs circles around my 6P, battery life is just way freaking better. And I Rooted and ROM'd my 6P and tweaked the hell out of it to get me like 5.5h to 6h Screen On time daily, and I'd still run low on battery by bedtime each day. With this 7 Plus, and same usage I going to bed and the phone still has 40% to 50% battery left, my Nexus 6P never could do that for me

- Display, color me impressed. I typically like AMOLED 2K screens better ( or so I thought ) But the 7 Plus screen is very crisp and seems super detailed on web pages and watching videos. The colors watching videos is very true to life and just looks surprisingly good. And the brightness outdoors is excellent compared to my 6P, which was pretty dim outside. I was expecting the lower res 7 Plus screen to be a major downgrade compared to the higher res AMOLED on the 6P, but it seems the opposite, the 7 Plus is very impressive on the Display.

At some point PPI does not matter. I mean the 7 Plus has over 400 PPI on a 5.5 inch display. This is just me but I have trouble making out pixels on my 6s 4.7inch iPhone let alone the plus.

 

[scott craft]

Voicemail and battery life were so much better on my 6S+ than my S7. Some things the iPhone does extremely well.